Multicultural awards

Two School of Medicine alumni have been honored for their service and leadership with the 2005 Multicultural Alumni Awards. Dr. Benjamin Danielson, a 1992 graduate of the medical school, and Alphonzo Flying Cloud, a 1994 graduate of the MEDEX Northwest physician assistant program, were the award winners.

The Multicultural Alumni Awards are given annually by the UW Medicine Alumni Association and the School of Medicine Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMCA). Dr. David Acosta, associate dean for multicultural affairs, and Ruth Ballweg, director of the MEDEX Northwest program, presented the awards at an event in January.

Danielson received the Charlie Garcia Distinguished Service Award for his work as an advocate for diversity in the medical profession. He has served as medical director of the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic in Seattle, and is now working to help increase diversity within the Pediatric Residency Program. He participates in the African American Mentor Network. Danielson has also served as a mentor for students in the Summer Medical Education Program, the OMCA’s six-week enrichment program for under-represented college students interested in medicine and dentistry.

Alphonzo Flying Cloud received the MEDEX Northwest Leadership Award for serving as a role model for minority applicants to the physician assistant program. While serving as a preceptor for the past decade, he has mentored minority students in the MEDEX Northwest program. He is a physician assistant in orthopaedics at the Everett Clinic.